M'soft would run a big risk getting an early black eye on Surface from sophisticated Japan consumers turning their noses down at a device that has good quality but sells in part by being a cheaper alternative to an iPad or a tablet from local giants like Toshiba and Sony.
Better strategy for M'soft is to build demand in more cost sensitive markets and see if it can build envy-demand in Japan.
It will be interesting to watch how this plays out!

Junko, look at the bottom of the first page of your article. The comma is indeed off one place.
I find these new type of tablets to have gobs of potential. Hard to imagine that they would flop. Even if Win8 itself doesn't appeal to everyone, at least in its initial Service Pack 0.

Yes, 10,000 yen = $126. The comma is NOT wrong.
These Japanese PC/tablets mentioned in the article, except for Fujitsu' Arrow Tab, have been developed as a new generation of notebook PC that can be also used as a tablet.
Indeed, the pricing seems very high; but they are priced for the Japanese domestic market, and the current yen-U.S. dollar exchange rate wouldn't help, either.